Beyonce is NOT Dead – Fake-News Beyonce Death Post Open Scam Websites

Outline:
Circulating social media post claims that popular entertainer Beyonce has committed suicide after having dinner with Jay Z and Nicki Minaj.

Brief Analysis:
Beyonce is not dead nor has she attempted suicide. The post is a callous and morally reprehensible attempt to trick people into visiting websites that in turn link to malware, survey scams, and decidedly dodgy “get rich” promotions. If one of these fake Beyonce R.I.P. posts comes your way, do not click on it.

Example:

Detailed Analysis:
According to a supposed news post that is currently making its way around via social media, popular entertainer Beyonce has been found dead after an apparent suicide. The post, which claims to be from news outlets Fox News and CNN, claims that the star was discovered dead after having dinner with Jay Z and Nicki Minaj.

However, the post is a scam. Beyonce is not dead nor has she attempted suicide. There are no credible news reports that confirm the death story in any way.

Clicking on the post opens a “celebrity news” website that supposedly contains more information about Beyonce’s sad demise. However, if you try to play a supposed news video on the bogus website, you will be automatically redirected to various scam, spam, or malware websites. Other links on the site also redirect to the same bogus websites. And, a popup window will try to force you to share the site via Facebook.

The report then goes on to make the utterly absurd claim that Beyonce actually died back in the year 2000, and that the entity we know as Beyonce today is actually a clone.

This scam report appears to have piggybacked on earlier false rumours that Beyonce had bled to death after a concert during which she accidentally tore her earring out of her earlobe, causing a minor injury.

The exact site you are redirected to may vary. You may be taken to a website that falsely claims that your computer is infected with a dangerous virus and you must immediately call a “tech support” number to get help with the virus infection. However, this is just a ruse designed to steal your credit card details or fool you into allowing criminals to take control of your computer from afar.

In other cases, you may be taken to survey scam websites that try to trick you into supplying your personal information to unscrupulous Internet marketing companies.

Or, you may be taken to spammy websites that try to entice you to sign up for utterly useless “wealth programs” that will supposedly make you fabulously and rapidly rich with little effort.

In recent months, there have been a series of very similar – and equally false – celebrity death fake-news posts that, like the Beyonce version – are all intended to trick people into visiting scam websites.

Fake-news reports that claim that a celebrity has committed suicide are especially reprehensible and the people who perpetrate them are beneath contempt. Mental health experts have found an increase in suicide rates after media reports about celebrity suicides. Thus, a heinous scam like this one could have deadly consequences.

Celebrity death hoaxes and scams are very common. It is thus a good idea to verify any celebrity death messages that come your way via social media before you share them. Searching a news portal such as Google News should quickly reveal if a circulating story about the death of a famous person is true.

Last updated: November 7, 2016
First published: November 7, 2016
By Brett M. ChristensenAbout Hoax-Slayer